CWT Assists with 4 Million Pounds of Cheese Export Sales

CWT Assists with 4 Million Pounds of Cheese Export Sales

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 18 requests for export assistance from Bongards, Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell a total of 1,821 metric tons (4.015 million pounds) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese to customers in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Central America. The product will be delivered January through June 2012.

In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 10.4 million pounds to 10 countries on three continents. That is the equivalent of 101 million pounds of milk, or the annual production of 4,800 cows.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by reducing inventories that overhang the market and depress cheese prices. In the long-term, CWT’s Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.

CWT will pay export bonuses to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.

The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins. For more information about CWT, visit www.cwt.coop.